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"Once again I must ask too much of you Harry.."

Film Synopsis:

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same.

My Take:

I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, although my children have. My experience with the stories have all been through the films which date back to 2001's Sorcerer's Stone. Currently I am the only one in my house that still enjoys the Potter films. I have seen each of them during their respective theatrical runs and while I haven't found them all to be equally entertaining I can't say that there is one that I haven't liked. The earlier films undeniably brought these delightful characters to life and endeared them to us while fundamentally establishing with each subsequent installment, the books theme of good versus evil. With each film we see Lord Voldemort becoming stronger and the tone shifting from seemingly brief (sometime humorous) moments of recoverable peril to mortality invoking danger that has serious/permanent consequences. Half-Blood Prince is ostensibly the darkest story yet and finds Hogwarts heavily guarded in order to stave off the impending threat from Deatheaters and Dementors. Harry and Dumbledore come together on the idea of using new (actually old and purposefully recruited) Professor Slughorn in an effort to uncover information buried in his memory that can be used to defeat Voldemort and his minions. Professor Snape is now the defense against the dark arts teacher and has mysteriously aligned himself with Voldemort and his latest plan for infiltrating Hogwarts which involves Draco Malfoy. Meanwhile Ron has joined the Quidditch team and found romance with Lavender. Hermione continues to be the trio's voice of reason and struggles with her feelings for Ron in the face of his budding relationship with Lavender. Ginny Weasley matures and takes on a position of prominence within the fold, Harry takes notice. Harry comes into possession of a school text book which contains a series of complicated spells that have been hand written among its text. It clearly was once the property of a student who signed it The Half-Blood Prince. Lastly, Dumbledore and Harry learn of a powerful device called a Horcrux, which can be used to store the soul or portion thereof making the wizard using it immortal. They uncover that a Horcrux may have been used by Voldemort and that there are a number of them hidden away. In order to stop him all of them must be located and destroyed. The question of who can be trusted looms....

I enjoyed this film more the second time around. As with all the Potter films preceding it there is plenty of depth to the story. As it escalates toward what is to come things are falling into place one important piece at a time. It was good to see Malfoy with more of a compelling role. While the overall tone is a dark and serious one it did take time to draw out some of the interpersonal relationships among the principles as well as throwing in a couple of lighter moments here and there. The foreshadowing of events is clearly presented but through it all the connection among these characters remains true. This is the essence of what makes these films special and why the remaining installments hold the potential of the best this series has yet to offer.

Parental Guide:

The rating is for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.

**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**

(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

Audio: 90

Dynamics:

Low frequency extension:

Surround Sound presentation:

Clarity/Detail:

Dialogue Reproduction:

Video: 90

(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

Resolution/Clarity:

Black level/Shadow detail:

Color reproduction:

Fleshtones:

Compression:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes to Blu-ray from Warner featuring 1080p VC-1 encoded video that has an average bitrate of 17 mbps and lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 channel audio that has an average bitrate of 1.5 mbps.

The look of this film does not lend itself to frequent use of eye popping colors, bold contrast or definitive sharpness. The world where most of the film takes place is made up of large amounts of CGI which is interwoven with both real objects and people. It has a typically distinctive visual design that often gives it the appearance and feel of a dream. The film intentionally uses muted colors and drab lighting which provides a noticeable contrast to the story's fantasy world. Blacks are deep, noise free and dynamic. Shadow delineation is excellent which gives the film's multitude of low lit sequences and darker elements plenty of depth and dimension. The color palette isn't particularly extensive as sepia tones, grays and other neutral colors are heavily utilized. Red is used in various shades and when coupled along with well saturated blues and golden highlights gives images ample tonal warmth. Contrast is spot on so that whites appear dynamic and punchy when appropriate without being overcooked and washed out. Fine detail is readily perceivable in close ups while backgrounds during long range shots tend to appear less definitive. This appears to be innate to the photography and reminiscent of how the film looked during its theatrical presentation. The result is great looking high definition video that appears faithful to the director's vision.

The lossless audio presentation, like the video, was used like a canvas to paint a picture that brought the fantasy world of Harry Potter to life. The soundtrack capably blends the music and intricate details associated with the divergent mix of sound effects to create an involving aural soundscape. The track is a bit deceiving as it can go from blissfully laid back to becoming fully engulfed in spatial dimension and room shaking bass. The mix doesn't make constant use of the low frequency effects channel however it was used often enough to make an impression. There are several sequences where bass extension reaches down deep to pressurize the room with conspicuous and dynamic low frequency energy. The entire surround platform is used to overlay the film's discretely placed directional and venue replicating ambient effects. Superlative detail and clarity bring forth every nuance within the recording so that each was discernibly distinguishable. Voices are noticeably textured and sibilant free throughout. This is a superb sounding audio presentation that truly compliments this engaging film.

Bonus Features:

Disc 1:

Maximum Movie Mode - PiP BonusView pop-up feature

(HD) Focus Points (33 minutes) :

The Millennium Bridge

Shooting on location

Professor Slughorn

Building relationships

Director David Yates returns

Wool's Orphanage

Ron and Lavender's kiss

The Burrow

Harry & Ginny's kiss

Aragog returns

Creating the cave

Designing the virtual cave environment

The Inferni

The underwater sequence

BD-Live access: December 12th live screening of The Half-Blood Prince with Daniel Radcliff

Final Thoughts:

Admittedly I am a fan of the Harry Potter film series and always look forward to each installment. The Half-Blood Prince is a well executed film that sees the evolution of both the story and characters as each takes on more of a decisive and mature theme that is clearly a precursor of what awaits us in the final installments. Warner has done a marvelous job with its debut in high definition on Blu-ray Disc. Audio/video quality is top notch and I found the comprehensive set of bonus supplements to be a fan's delight. Definitely a must have for fans and a worthy addition to any collection.

I was disappointed to see that they didn't include the large number of subtitle choices that they had in previous BD releases. Guess they were trying to save money but since blu-ray has a large storage capacity I don't see the harm of making subtitles available in multiple languages.

sorry to burst any bubbles, but too much of the book have been left out or not explored in the movie. They should've made 2 movie out oh this book. All the intrigue about the half-blood prince potion book are not in the movie: It's the title of the movie!!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this film as well as the previous installments. My only gripe is since i saw this in IMAX 3D is i wished they've included that effect like they did in The Dark Knight which had the camera give that IMAX effect.

Also kind of left me hanging on the end but i guess that was to be expected. Haven't read the book but looking forward to the next chapter.

This is definitely a collect...however! Since this movie is a series of stories my suggestion is to wait. Because in the end i'm pretty sure the movie company will release a complete chapter/story of all the HP from one til the end.

I'm not a big Potter fan and though I'm a huge scifi/fantasy reader, I've never read the books. Largely, that's due to the movies since I've read that the early movies captured the tone of the books very well...even if some content had to be excised. Meaning I find the kids too cutesy. I might be short changing myself...maybe I'll one day take the plunge. Anyway, what I find wrong with the Harry Potter character is that he hasn't developed. Sure he's still a kid, but with all the talk of his being a prodigy, a "chosen one", I find that his skillset is lacking. He overcomes obstacles by being gifted, in a timely fashion, with a object, potion or spell, that's handed to him by a plot device or dumb luck not by inherent gifts. In fact, he seems to be fairly even with or behind many of his classmates. He faces danger showing plucky courage, but little else. After 6 films and 6 years of training, I'd expect more progress. As a late teenager he should be close to masterclass by power alone. Because he's not, the character just tumbles along, exhibiting no control over surroundings...just a normal kid involved in complex events he doesn't understand. This doesn't compell me into identifying with our protagonist. I'm all over stories that develop the character from potential to greatness. This series hasn't done it. I find the HP character weak.

Enough about that...Half Blood Prince seemed like an outline of a story to me. It's apparent that the script left out a ton of plot, just a barbones of the overall story sprinkled with some character interaction. I felt it was disjointed with many unresolved plot ends...maybe they'll be addressed in the next installment.

Why hide the book? Too dangerous? Why? What's with the cabinets? To bring in the deatheaters? They didn't do a thing. The deatheaters draw out Harry and the Weezilys then destroy their house...why? What were the consequences? It didn't seem to effect the rest of the story. Next scene was Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Harry back in school...never mentioned again. Dumbledore's death , Snape being the Half Blood Prince...that was a big reveal , both were handled with little exposition or explanation...Oh well...I'm pretty sure the Phoenix was fairly significant.

I'll watch the rest. I've come too far to give up now. I'm just totally luke warm on these films.

I don't lurk as much as I used to and I NEVER listen. Comes from being old and cynical.

Read the books...they're better than the movies, hands down (although I do enjoy the movies too). There is so much left out from books 3-6 in the movies that the meat of the story has been trimmed out.

I'm not a big Potter fan and though I'm a huge scifi/fantasy reader, I've never read the books. Largely, that's due to the movies since I've read that the early movies captured the tone of the books very well...even if some content had to be excised. Meaning I find the kids too cutesy. I might be short changing myself...maybe I'll one day take the plunge. Anyway, what I find wrong with the Harry Potter character is that he hasn't developed. Sure he's still a kid, but with all the talk of his being a prodigy, a "chosen one", I find that his skillset is lacking. He overcomes obstacles by being gifted, in a timely fashion, with a object, potion or spell, that's handed to him by a plot device or dumb luck not by inherent gifts. In fact, he seems to be fairly even with or behind many of his classmates. He faces danger showing plucky courage, but little else. After 6 films and 6 years of training, I'd expect more progress. As a late teenager he should be close to masterclass by power alone. Because he's not, the character just tumbles along, exhibiting no control over surroundings...just a normal kid involved in complex events he doesn't understand. This doesn't compell me into identifying with our protagonist. I'm all over stories that develop the character from potential to greatness. This series hasn't done it. I find the HP character weak.

Enough about that...Half Blood Prince seemed like an outline of a story to me. It's apparent that the script left out a ton of plot, just a barebones of the overall story sprinkled with some character interaction. I felt it was disjointed with many unresolved plot ends...maybe they'll be addressed in the next installment.

I'll watch the rest. I've come too far to give up now. I'm just totally luke warm on these films.

Well said, exactly the way I feel about the series so far. Both my daughters have read the books and have a better understanding of what is taking place in the movies while I feel more and more disconnected from each successive film. But then again this is how I feel about the Dan Brown books and their adaptation to the screen, my wife who has read both books and is working on the third (no, please not another Ron Howard movie) tries to fill me in on what was left out the movie.

Well said, exactly the way I feel about the series so far. Both my daughters have read the books and have a better understanding of what is taking place in the movies while I feel more and more disconnected from each successive film. But then again this is how I feel about the Dan Brown books and their adaptation to the screen, my wife who has read both books and is working on the third (no, please not another Ron Howard movie) tries to fill me in on what was left out the movie.

I read the first 2 Dan Brown books and was underwhelmed. The first movie was even worse. I've got Angels and Demons sitting here from NF. Haven't spun it yet...watched HP instead...I think I'm going to be disappointed again .

I don't lurk as much as I used to and I NEVER listen. Comes from being old and cynical.

Read the books...they're better than the movies, hands down (although I do enjoy the movies too). There is so much left out from books 3-6 in the movies that the meat of the story has been trimmed out.

Dave, I'm sure they're well written and somewhat charming, but I'm still concerned about the character. Harry's portrayed in the movies as just a young wanker with a wand after 6 books. I can't see investing the time, if I don't like the main character.

I don't lurk as much as I used to and I NEVER listen. Comes from being old and cynical.

Ron, most of your concerns would be addressed in the books. Harry isn't supposed to be extremely gifted, a great fighter, or anything but an average kids. His strength lays in his ability to love. I don't care for the movie version Harry, actually there are lots of things I can't stand in the movies. I still love them, but because I love to see certain places/characters brought to life on the big screen.

I totally get your reasoning behind the cutesy remark. I only read the first two books once because they are not anywhere as developed or a dark as the following books. I am an avid reader of fantasy and have read many, many books/series and Harry Potter remains to be in my top 5. I would really suggest reading them before the 7th Potter film. At least read book 3 and see what you think. I think they get better and better. Deathly Hallows is my favorite in the series. I also always wonder how anybody can understand what is going on if they only watch the movies. There is so much left out and not explained in the films.

I was thinking of getting the blu-ray boxed set of HP movies. I hope they would be the same in A/V quality.

Ron, most of your concerns would be addressed in the books. Harry isn't supposed to be extremely gifted, a great fighter, or anything but an average kids. His strength lays in his ability to love. I don't care for the movie version Harry, actually there are lots of things I can't stand in the movies. I still love them, but because I love to see certain places/characters brought to life on the big screen.

I totally get your reasoning behind the cutesy remark. I only read the first two books once because they are not anywhere as developed or a dark as the following books. I am an avid reader of fantasy and have read many, many books/series and Harry Potter remains to be in my top 5. I would really suggest reading them before the 7th Potter film. At least read book 3 and see what you think. I think they get better and better. Deathly Hallows is my favorite in the series. I also always wonder how anybody can understand what is going on if they only watch the movies. There is so much left out and not explained in the films.

I was thinking of getting the blu-ray boxed set of HP movies. I hope they would be the same in A/V quality.

My personal favorite was the 6th book, sadly the movie doesn't come close to measuring up. The movie is good in a vacuum, but compared to the book it not even close to as entertaining or informative about the characters and the story.

I am trying to watch the movie but I keep getting popup boxes the first being of Ron near the beginning of the movie. I cannot figure out what is causing the popups. I tried to setting the max movie mode to off but it the boxes are ruining the movie. Thanks for any help.

I tried to play this Blu-ray tonight (yes, I know, I'm slow!) and even with the latest firmware, it failed to run--did you notice any problems with this blu-ray?

I discovered if you want to play this on the Oppo BDP-83, you have to upgrade to the newest firmware (Jan, 2012), reset to all default settings, and clear any saved blu-ray data. Without the last two steps, I couldn't get this to play.